Monthly Archives: December 2003

Israeli soldiers stationed in the tense West Bank city of Hebron have recently been battling an enemy they define as more scary then Palestinian militants: enormous rats.

The rats, lured by piles of garbage in Hebron’s streets, have become so daring they have even infiltrated military barracks and bitten at least two heavily armed combat soldiers – one in the ear and the other on the lip, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported.

The rodents have grown so large that soldiers are calling them the Hebrew equivalent of “crats” due to their increasing similarity to the stray cats, Maariv reported.

I’m waiting for the Palesitinains to claim that these giant rats are mutants caused by some secret Israeli radioactive/biochem weapon. Something absurd like that.

On a more serious note, I eagerly await a post from Publius & Co. (who is a major rat blogger for those who don’t know)

Just in time for your belated Hannukah and Christmas present giving, the brand new, Terrorist Playing Card set. Modeled after the US Central Command deck of 52, this deck will appeal to the pro-Israel members of the Zionist Neocon Cabal™ (or any other pro-Israel person with a warped sense of humor). Play cards with celebs such as: Abdalla Shami, Basem El-Saadi, Imad Fayez Mugniyah, Ismail Abu Shneb and many more!The cards are made in Israel, so purchasing them will benefit the Israeli economy!

I’m not big on all this “year in review”/predictions for “2004” type stuff. I think a lot of it is simply silly, and in some cases may just be used to boost a columnists’ ego. Granted, there are some funny ones. I guess my real issue is that so many people make these, and they’re just fodder.

That’s my not so deep thought for the morning. I’m waiting to go to the gym (perhaps that’ll improve my mood).

I’ve been behind on political blogging the past few days–you’ll have to forgive me for that.

What’s with Dean whining about being attacked by other Dem candidates? For goodness sakes, it’s politics after all! This is par for the course. Dean is sounding more and more like a sissy.

As for the Dean-McAullife feud–I think this is more of a fight for the control of the party. McAuliffe was the Clinton’s man, and he “represents” them, while Dean seems to be more of a representative of the further left-flank of the party. It’s a fight for control of the party I guess. But again, Dean shouldn’t be complaining that he’s being attacked.

Speaking of the Clintons, Clark is the first one to use Bill in an ad. Reinforces the idea that Clark is the Clintons’ candidate.

Sorry about the lack of blogging today. As usual the schedule in my house is totally FUBAR (nothing new though). I’ve been trying to find time to work on my grad school essay, which I’m very close to completing. And that’s why I’ve not been blogging to much today. I hope to make some posts later on.

As I noted below, I’m back in Cleveland. It’s a yucky day out today. Not that it matters.

I’m planning on returning to blogging as usual…after all, I know that my Grandfather (z”l) would not want me to stop working (or being productive) on his account. That’s the kind of man he was. He was a very motivated man. On a side note, I may wind up telling stories about his life here and there–so you’ll have to excuse me for that.

I’m going to have to start crawling through the news again to find topics. I’ve also gotta finish my grad school apps. Yikes! Too much at one time.

Well, at least the Browns actually won yesterday. For the first time in who knows how long.

And I finished reading Horowitz’s latest book “Left Illusions” and now I’m reading (for laughs) Coulter’s book Treason. I’ve got mixed thoughts on it so far–but the jokes about MoDo are priceless.

Dad, Grandma and my uncles all returned from Israel this morning…my uncles just in time for minyan, and my dad and grandma later (they were on seperate flights–it’s a very, very, very long and confusing story, which I won’t bother retelling). After minyan this morning, [just for our family] brunch/lunch was served, first we served the avelim (mourners) then we were told to help ourselves. There was a bit of a subdued mood, but it was the first time the whole family had been together in one place since the summer of 2002. Grandpa’s presence though was missing. Nevertheless, we knew he would want us to do what we normally did–kibbitz (talk), catch up on things, tell stories (the usual Jewish family gathering). Then visitors began to pay Shiva calls throughout the afternoon. We then davened again. Then when it came to dinner, the order got mixed up, and a plate was sent, but the food was identical to what was served for brunch. So someone in the family had a kosher burger place deliver. Very good burgers…although very very filling. It’s a shame, I’d been losing weight recently. I guess that streak is over. Darn…(same goes for my gym streak).

Tonight we had more visitors and talked somemore, then it was just our family, and we cleaned up and set things up for tomorrow morning. minyan is at 0700 (too early for my taste, but not my choice). I’ll be up for it and in attendance though. There’s no question about that.

It’s been a long day and I’ve been doing a lot of things (hence the lack of blogging)–mostly helping out. Tomorrow will be a shorter day b/c of Shabbos (did I mention that my dad’s family is very religious?)

And for those of you unfamiliar with Jewish mourning practices and/or don’t understand some of the terminology I’ve been using, here’s a good primer on it.

I’ve been able to get a WiFi internet connection here in Chicago at my grandmother’s appartment, so I may blog very sporadically. Granted, it’s not going to be my usual musings, rather, I’m just going to share whatever is on my mind at the given point in time. It’s strange to know that my grandfather z”l is no longer with us. He lived 83 wonderful years on this planet, was married to my grandmother for 52 of those years. He’s now b’ezrat hashem in heaven, where he is being reunited with his mother and sister who he last saw when he was 18. (He was in Japan with his father on a buisness trip when the Nazis invaded Romania–the Nazis proceeded to murder my great aunt and great grandmother). He moved from Japan (later during the war) to Panama, where he met grandma. The two of them eventually moved here to America, and lived the American dream. He was a very religious and pious man, always yirat hashamaim and a man full of chesed. Grandpa was a very loyal Zionist; whenever HaTikvah was played, he insisted on standing up at attention. He invested much in the land (through charity and purchasing bonds) and Israel was always in his heart and mind. He is now in Israel, as per his final requests.

My grandma, dad and uncles are currently flying back from Israel (they made a very quick trip there to bury my grandpa), and they’ll be back stateside early this morning and will return to Chicago later in the AM. We have not seen them since Tuesday. It’s going to be interesting to see how they are doing. I hope to keep grandma in high spirits. That will include replying to all her requests, even her insisting that I eat more food (even when my body doesn’t want me too)–you’ve gotta love Jewish mothers and grandmothers.

They’re going to be sitting shiva here at the apartment for the week. I’m not sure how long I’ll be here in Chicago to help out. I”ll have to see. Today we prepped the house, took phone calls, made arrangements for things (food people are sending over, finding out what time minyan is at, the usual…)

It’s wierd to think about it that my grandfather is no longer alive. I last saw him in April for Pesach. He took ill 4 months ago, and that was the beginning of the end per-say. (I’ll explain in another post).

I’m going to try to get some sleep now. After I take care of my little brother.

Thank you all for the notes you’ve left me in the comments. I really appreciate them all. I seriously, seriously do. Thank you!

P.S. An aside, I may be using more Hebrew/Judaic terminology in the comming posts regarding what’s going on. my appologies for not providing a definition (sorry, I’m a bit lazy right now). I’ll try to link to a page tomorrow with more info.

My grandfather passed away tuesday in the early hours of the morning. A memorial service was held yesterday for him here in Chicago (where I currently am). We escorted his casket to the airport, and he is currently being internned (most likely literally now) in Bet Shemesh (Israel) as per his request.

I’m here at my grandmother’s apartment in chicago right now, setting things up for the shiva house. Blogging will be light and very sporadic in the interim

As I mentioned previously, I’m supposed to be heading to Chicago this Wed to go visit my very-ill grandfather who is sadly passing away. We got a call tonight that things wern’t looking very good, so there’s a chance that I’ll be out of here as early as tomorrow. Long story short, my grandfather has been sick for a long time, and right now I guess my grandmother is simply looking for a sense of closure. I’ll put a more through eulogy up at an appropriate time.

In that case, I just wanted to take this oppertunity to wish everyone (to whom it applies) a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (and to the Jews out there–Happy Hannukah and Happy night of Chinese food and movies!!)

And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we’ll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We’ll bring you in.

“It’s a program of squeezing Libya that’s gone on for more than a decade,” Clark told a Derry, N.H., audience, according to the Concord Monitor. “The Clinton administration was very much involved with this.”

In a slap at Bush, Clark said, it “shows that you don’t need to use force to get your way in world affairs,” adding that Prime Minister Tony Blair deserved credit for the Ghahafi breakthrough as well.

Now didn’t Reagan (or was it Bush Sr.) put the sanctions on Lybia? I know that Reagan showed the crazy Col. Ghadafi a bit of the the military muscle of the United States….Clinton did jack squat that with regards to Lybia. Did we hear anything really about Lybia in the 90s? (Note: I’m not including any of the crazy things Gadafi said). Anybody? Anything?

This really shows through the theory that Clark is the Clinton’s choice for the nomination. He’s sucking up to them.

Oh, and by the way General–the CIA and MI6 were able to infiltrate and discover the program, as well as the fact that they intercepted a shipment of items bound for Libya.

And don’t forget what Gadafi said to Italian PM Berlusconi about not wanting to go out like Saddam…(anyone remember the exact quote?)

I’m very skeptical of this report, mainly because I don’t think the Mossad would normally publicize such information. That’s very unlike the Mossad–which is traditionally a very, very, very secret organization. Unless this is a new face of the Mossad?

An interesting event took place Saturday in the Ohio city of Vermillion (it’s on the coast of Lake Erie). Currently there’s a debate going on in Ohio over Concealed Carry (CCW), with the Gov not being too supportive of the idea and making demands, while the State Legislature has approved a CCW bill. Gov Taft (R) is threatening a veto of the bill unless a compromise can be reached, and there are rumors that such a compromise may occur, or the State Senate may have enough votes to override a veto.

This past Saturday a group called “Ohioans for Concealed Carry” held an event in Vermillion. About 75 people went to the town, armed, with their personal firearms clearly visible (which is legal BTW). Some stores asked that people with guns not enter, while other buisnesses welcomed them. Ironically, the buisnesses who welcomed guns did more buisness as they got the gun carriers plus the protesters who were in the area.

I’m not sure how I really feel about the CCW issue. As I’ve said many times before, I’m not a gun person myself, but I know of many people who are. I mean just look around the Blogsphere, there’s Emperor Misha, Kim DuToit, Frank J, Rachel Lucas, CD, Dok Russia just to name a few…. (leave a note in the comments if I accidentally ommitted you)These people seem to be very responsible gun owners, and I think that they may have a better idea about these things than someone like me would.

One thing in the CCW bill that is appealing is that in order to get a CCW license, among other things, you need to be certified in using the firearm. I think if you’re going to carry, you need to be trained. The one concern I have is that some people will take advantage of this, and cause problems.

I’m still undecided on this issue…and I just thought I’d share this story, and see what people in the blogsphere think.

It looks like the French looking Senator from MA, John F. Kerry, who by the way served in Vietnam has started a trend of Democrat presidential nominees who like to curse in public. Today on C-Span Wesley Clark joined the club stating: “GENERAL CLARK ON C-SPAN: ‘I’ll beat the s— out of them’…”

Speaking of the Democrat 9; wasn’t it funny last week when Sharpton was ahead of both Kerry and Edwards in the polls?

And on that topic, it looks like Dean is a sore-front runner (yes, I just made that term up). Dean: Stop the Attacks. You pansy. Politics is a full contact game…with some foul language thrown in for that matter. Stop whining.

Now going onto pundits and punditry. As usual, Eric Alterman succeeds in demonstrating why he is one of the biggest Asshats out there. You open up the dictionary under Asshat…Alterman’s photo is there. What am I talking about? Poor and Stupid has the whole thing covered.

Damn it! So close! Let’s hope that we start to get close on several more occasions–and take care of what needs done (if you know what I mean). Speaking of which, how do these reporters get interviews with these jihadis anyway? Shouldn’t the CIA be tracking these punks down? I mean that makes sense, no?